Certainly there are many ways to prevent shoplifting, but if your business has no plan, shoplifting will control your business.

I was working for a retailer, starting up a loss prevention program for in their specialty environment. They wanted a retail loss prevention program in the stores to help prevent shoplifting, prevent retail theft and reduce inventory shrinkage. However, they were hesitant about bringing in outside help. They looked at different managers within their company, and narrowed it down to about 3 that had the most experience in dealing with inventory shrinkage.

Not being specialists, they were really having a tough time trying to hammer out the details of a retail loss prevention program. Looking at their plan to control inventory shrinkage, they weren’t addressing the true issues. They were looking at all of the wrong places to deter shoplifters. They assumed that every “gang banger” type in the store was a thief, every homeless person, or every “weird” looking person that entered their stores were gonna steal. Yet, not paying attention to the man in the suit and others. They were stereotyping and really limiting their positive impact. As time went on, their plan really impacted nothing. They needed help, and fast.

It was simple. Retail loss prevention is very basic, yet provides the necessary tools and expertise to keep your business profitable and control inventory shrinkage. Tailoring a program to this company’s needs included building an associate awareness program, helping management identify tell tale signs of theft and loss and utilizing industry standards to control and prevent inventory shrinkage and prevent retail theft.

Retail loss is a killer and this business knew, first hand, the impact on a business without a retail loss prevention program. As time went on and their tailored retail loss prevention grab ahold, they saw the decrease in inventory loss they were looking for.